Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of the 3 February 2025 to Question 26386 on Children: Hearing Impairment, whether the expected apprenticeship in Sensory Impairment will be funded via the Apprenticeship Levy; and when course providers will be told the final decision on funding for the course so that they can start to accept applications for the planned September 2025 start.

The government is committed to spreading opportunities and economic growth with the support of a strong skills system.

This government has an extremely challenging fiscal inheritance. There are tough choices that need to be taken on how funding should be prioritised in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The government will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves. The department is taking advice from Skills England, who engaged with employers over the autumn, and the department expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships, including the pending level 7 apprenticeship in sensory impairment, shortly.